Pithapur Tarachandpatna residents take up cleaning work on Friday. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Nov. 11: Irked by the alleged indifferent attitude of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) for failing to initiate concrete measures to maintain proper sanitation, residents of Pithapur Tarachandpatna today took up cleaning work as a mark of protest.

The residents today cleaned up a garbage dumping yard that had not been cleared in the last three days. They also cleaned up some clogged drains of the locality.

“Yesterday, we had organised an event and had invited a lot of people from different parts of the city. We felt embarrassed when the invitees pointed towards the heaps of garbage that were scattered all over the locality,” said Kalyani Mishra, a homemaker.

The residents said the civic body was not taking any steps to improve living conditions at Pithapur Tarachandpatna. The area falls in ward No. 23 of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation.

“There is not a single dustbin here, but the locality is home to over 150 families. As a result, the residents are forced to dump their household waste on the roadside. But, the corporation does not even clear that on a daily basis,” said Sishir Panda, a local resident.

Panda said the residents today took up the cleaning drive as a mark of protest against the lack of initiative on the part of the civic officials to keep the area clean.

“Every year, we face problems because of waterlogging during the rainy season. This is mainly because surface drains are not being cleaned on a regular basis. Though desiltation work is carried out before every monsoon, no step has been taken towards widening of the drains here,” said Binayak Samal, another local resident.

This is not the first time that residents have taken up a sanitation drive in the city. On August 21, the residents of Shivpuri at Jagatpur had also taken up a similar cleanliness drive.

On October 3, the residents of Block V of CDA Sector VI had repaired a kutcha road in protest of civic inaction. The residents have also decided to construct a concrete road by themselves.

Similarly, the residents of Nima Sahi, which also falls in ward No. 23 of the corporation, had staged a protest against poor sanitation in their locality. On April 18, the residents had blocked a road for three hours by dumping household waste, which was not cleaned from the area for long.

Councillor of ward No. 23 Laxmidhar Pradhan could not be contacted despite several attempts. However, civic officials said that adequate measures were being taken to maintain sanitation at different wards of the CMC.